


Our Mutual Cage

by Ecrivaisseur



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexuality, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eventual Romance, F/F, Gay Character, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-05-04 02:18:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5316578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ecrivaisseur/pseuds/Ecrivaisseur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SwanQueen. Instead of turning Emma into the Dark One at the end of 4B, the darkness opened a portal to the Underworld, one that sucked Regina, Emma and Mary Margaret into it. Trapped in a hell full of demons, the three are forced to come face-to-face with the haunting people of their pasts. But, as they try to find a way to get back to Storybrooke, Regina and Emma begin to grow closer in a way they haven't before, and they start to realize who they really desire. Endgame: SwanQueen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome To Hell

**Author's Note:**

> (previous titled: Birds In A Dark Cage)
> 
> This is my first SwanQueen fanfic, so bear with me. Of course, Regina, Emma and Mary Margaret will be at the forefront, though expect a lot of Cora, too. Character list will be updated whenever a new character is added. Tags will also be added when they appear. Chapter lengths will vary.

Chapter One

Welcome To Hell

_*Starts off at the very end of Operation Mongoose, Pt. 2, just before the darkness attacks Regina*_

“Well where the hell is it?” Regina demanded aloud to the group, looking around for the flying, inky cloud of Dark One darkness, just like they were. Only a few moments ago, the darkness that had been tethered to Rumplestiltskin’s heart had been removed by the Sorcerer’s Apprentice and trapped inside the hat. However, something had gone wrong and, instead, it flew out of the magical object, had overpowered the Apprentice, and had then escaped from Rumplestiltskin’s shop and out into the open, where it now lurked about in hiding.

“We don’t know,” David explained, wrapping a protective arm around Mary Margaret, who looked concernedly at Regina and Emma.

Silence filled the cold, frosty air as their eyes darted about the empty streets of Storybrooke in vain attempts to find the hidden monster. It appeared that no one but the six of them - Emma, Regina, Robin, Hook, Snow and Charming - was out that night, probably all down at Granny's celebrating their recent defeat of the Queens of Darkness, and Rumplestiltskin's curse. It was probably a good thing they weren't out, too. That darkness would prey on anybody it could find. _It would consume any soul it could._

Suddenly, Emma’s voice broke the silence. “It hasn’t gone anywhere.” The woman said to everyone. She could _feel_ the darkness’s presence. It was close.

Not a second later, a streak of flashing black struck down from the sky, like lightening, aimed directly at Regina. Immediately, she was sucked into the swirling vortex of darkness, pulling her away from everyone else as it slowly began to rip away the light inside of her. Regina was numb to stop it; she could feel it eating away at her soul. She felt the light start to snuff out, as darkness crept it's way inside her heart.

“Regina - No!” Emma, Snow and Robin both screamed in sequence, with Robin lurching forward to try and rescue her, though he was thrown back into a nearby building with force, crashing into a window.

Emma could quickly see Regina’s life escaping from her, as the darkness started to fill her soul with rapid pace. She had to do _something_. She couldn't just stand there and watch. “Regina, I’m coming for you!”

With the dagger in her hands, outstretched and ready to strike, Emma charged at the swirling evilness around Regina and crashed into it.

“Emma!” Snow shouted, and, her motherly-instincts kicking in, she ran after her daughter, trying to protect her. David screamed after both of them, but Snow ignored him, instead focusing on her daughter.

As the blade of the dagger collided with the darkness, a loud burst shattered through the air, and Regina was flown out of the darkness and onto the concrete near Emma and Snow. Thinking that the darkness was surely coming for her next, Emma held the dagger up in the air, ready for the attack, before watching as it, instead of coming for her, shot down into the ground. The concrete splintered into thousands of pieces, shaking the ground, creating a large hole between the three of them.

The shaking didn’t cease, only increasing, as the hole grew wider and wider. Regina pushed herself up off the ground and onto her feet, just in time to see the hole start glowing a dark grey color, before, within a flash, Emma, Snow and herself were sucked into the hole, vanishing instantly.

* * *

“Regina, Regina, wake up” muttered a worried, hurried voice that the reformed Evil Queen easily recognized. “Oh, please don’t be dead. . .”

Regina’s eyes fluttered open, awake from the fall, as she could feel someone’s cold hands shaking her body with great fever. She looked up to see the face of Mary Margaret looming close to her face, on her knees, with her eyes wide and her mouth gaped open. She wore a pale complexion across her face, one befitting of her birth name. The woman let out a heavy sigh as Regina woke up.

“Oh, thank heavens,” Snow whispered in relief, falling back slightly on her knees, “She’s alive. Emma she’s alive!”

“Of course I’m alive,” Regina said groggily.

“How many fingers am I holding up?” Snow asked, waving three of her fingers annoyingly close to Regina’s eyes.

“Three, now get that out of my face,” Regina pushed away Snow hands and started to sit up from the icy ground she was laying on. She was okay, save for a slight discomfort she could feel at the back of head. “I’m fine, it’s just-” she was interrupted by the sharp and biting agony she instantly felt as sat up fully, the pain from the back of her head suddenly intensifying times a hundred and sending shivers of pain throughout her body, causing her to let out a shuddering growl of torture. She moved an icy hand to behind her head, trying to feel the site of the pain. Cold, thick blood greeted her touch.

“What is it, Regina?” Snow asked, looking at the back of Regina’s head where her hand was. “What’s wrong?”

“What happened? Is she hurt?” another voice Regina recognized said. It was Emma Swan, and she was coming from somewhere off in the distance. Her shoes clicked against the ground as she ran up to them. Regina could barely see her; her head was pounding from the pain, and her eyes were growing fuzzy and foggy, before they suddenly and mysteriously regained vision. Emma was now right beside her, her hand gently on Regina’s shoulder, and looking with Snow at her head.

“Oh my goodness!” Snow cried at the gash she saw stretched across towards the top of Regina’s skull. It was furrowed between her dark locks of hair, but she could still see it, even through the padded blood. “That looks terrible.”

“It’s nothing,” Regina said, before she cried out again due to the pain, completely negating her previous words, “Okay well maybe it _is_ something. It’s from the fall,” she paused for a moment, quickly remembering what had just happened: the darkness and the portal that had sucked them through. “Speaking of which, where the hell did we end up? What land our we in now.”

Emma and Snow were silent. “Hopefully it’s at least a nice realm,” Regina added.

“I don’t think this is any land we want to be in,” Emma said, helping Regina up off the ground, “Take a look around.”

Regina looked up at the sight before her. It was Storybrooke, Maine . . . well, a much darker, run-down, decimated version. It seemed as if her beloved town now lay before her in complete and utter ruins: the streets were cracked; cars were crashed into each other and buildings and, were either on fire or had been; the shattered lampposts were flickering; the shops and storefronts were broken in to; there were skeletons and burnt bodies dispersed about; and the beloved clock tower now laid, murdered, in two pieces scattered across the ground like it had been pushed.

“What is this place,” Snow asked, “It can’t be Storybrooke.”

Regina’s gazed moved up to the sky above them: swirling ebony clouds in various shades of black and grey completely covered the sky, casting a blanket of darkness over everything they could see. Even the air seemed to have a darkness, an heaviness, about it. She could also smell the scent of a fire somewhere, of a burning aroma, yet the temperature was cold and frigid.

Suddenly, Regina turned grim, as it all made sense. The destroyed town, the coldness, the fire, the darkness. . . She knew exactly where they were. It could only be one thing.

“No, this isn’t Storybrooke,” she said, solemnly, “I know what this place is.”

“You do?” Emma asked, surprised. “You know where we are?”

“What is it? Where are we?” Snow followed along. 

Regina took a step forward. “We're in the Underworld. _Welcome to Hell_.”


	2. Queen of The Underworld

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regina, Emma and Mary Margaret run into some familiar faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a direct continuation of the previous chapter.

Chapter Two

Queen of The Underworld

“T-The Underworld?” Snow White stuttered, gravely, her completion fading even whiter, “H-how do you know that’s where we are?”

“Because I have had dealings with the dead before. I’ve almost been sent here a few times, myself, so trust me, there’s no where else this place could be. We are in the Underworld.” Regina nudged the edges of her jacket closer together, freezing from the cold, and trying to ignore the constant pain shooting from the back of her head. Usually, she’d just use her magic to make the injury disappear, but she knew full well that there was no such thing as magic in the Underworld. This hell was a place beyond magic.

She’d have to deal with her injury later.

“But, I don’t see any dead people,” Emma commented, pointing out how they were the only ones out on the street. She didn’t like it - as if being in the Underworld wasn’t bad enough, they were alone and it was silent out. And from her experience, she knew that nothing good every came from mere silence.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Regina reassured, taking another step forward and looking at the blood at the tips of her fingers, “They’ll come out eventually. Once they smell the scent of the living, then they’ll start to emerge from the shadows.”

“Then I guess I’ll take your word for it.”

Suddenly, Snow uttered a whimper. “Where’s everyone else! Charming, Robin, Hook? What happened to them? They were there with us, so why aren’t they here, too.” She was worried about her husband.

Emma continued to look around uneasily. “I’ve been looking around. It seems like the portal only took us three with it.”

“We’ve got to find a way back. They’ll be worried sick about us - ”

“That’s the least of our problems, right now,” Regina interrupted, “We should be more worried about who we might run into down here. Every villain that’s ever been killed is somewhere around here. They might even be watching us right now, and I'm sure there's plenty of people down here who will be thrilled to see me.”

Snow let out a loud gulp. “You mean we might see - ” she started, before Regina stopped her again.

“Don’t say their names. We don’t want to summon them or anything.”

“We need to find a shelter of some kind. There has to be somewhere around here that we can camp out for the time being,” Emma started, reaching for her gun in her back pocket for protection, before she realized she had left it back at the police station. Foolishly. “Shit,” she muttered, “I don’t have my gun.”

“It wouldn’t do much good down here, anyways. They’re already dead,” Regina looked at Emma, “And we don’t have our magic, either.”

“So we’re defenseless?” Snow asked. The whole idea of being trapped here, in The Underworld, terrified her, though she quickly realized that she would have to do something. All three of them would have to do something, if they ever want to get back to their loved ones. If they wanted to get back to Storybrooke, they’d have to find a way.

And that’s when she saw it: out of the corner of her eyes, while Regina and Emma were contemplating where to find a shelter, Snow saw, laced in the grip of a skeleton lying against a lamppost, a rusty and grimy, though still usable, bow and a satchel of arrows. “Wait,” she said, getting their attention, “I think I found something that we could use.” She ran over to the bow, yanked it out of the skeleton’s grasp, and slipped it on. She picked up an arrow and tested the bow. It worked.

“Now we’re not entirely defenseless,” she said, “It may not be as good as magic or a gun, but it’ll work. Now let’s go find some shelter.”

Regina and Emma both agreed, and, together, the three of them started to walk down the main street.

“So, how are we going to get back to Storybrooke? What’s the plan?” Emma asked as they walked, looking at both Regina and Snow.

“I don’t know, yet, I’ve never - ” Regina began, though her words were cut short when, out of nowhere, they were thrown back onto the concrete by a strong force, knocking the wind out of them.

When they looked up to see what it was that had pushed them down, their eyes were greeted by the ghostly, and frightening figure of none-other than _Cora Mills_ , who was looking at them with keen eyes and a devilish smile drawn from her red lips. "Oh, my bad." 

“M-m-other?” Regina said between breaths, the force having knocked all air out of her. She tried to regain her breath, but the surprise of seeing her mother was preventing her. She knew the moment she realized that they were in the Underworld that her mother would find her, sooner rather than later. Her mother always had a way of reuniting with her, and, just as Regina had suspected, here she was, again.

Cora looked different here, not surprisingly. Regina expected she would, but, still, it was a chilling experience to see her mother in this state: with pale, white, cold skin; lifeless, empty eyes; faded brown curls; and a black pantsuit covering her body. The only color she wore was the dark, red smear that was painted over her lush lips. She smelled heavily of roses.

“Regina,” Cora smiled, “And Emma and Snow White, too. Here you all are - It’s been quite a long time, hasn’t it?”

“Cora,” Emma said, sharply. Her eyes moved back and forth between the spirit before her and Regina. Emma knew the kind of power Cora could sway over her daughter - she’d seen it back when Cora was alive in Storybrooke - and Emma was going to do whatever she could to prevent that from happening again down here. She wouldn’t let Regina be taken under Cora’s grasp again. Not after all the progress she’s made. “If you try and make one move,” the woman said, holding up her hands, like she was about to use magic, “I’ll blow you away.”

The elder woman laughed. “Oh, please, Ms. Swan. You and I both know there’s no magic down here, so why don’t you put your hands down?” She looked over the three of them with amused eyes, “Besides, I only wanted to see my daughter.” She looked back at her daughter.

“ _Well, would you look at what the cat dragged in_ ,” snarled another voice from behind. Cora rolled her eyes as Regina, Snow and Emma turned around to see a snickering Peter Pan perched up on top of one of the storefronts, grinning down at them with crossed arms. “I’d never expected to see you three down here. At least not so soon, that is.”

They remained silent.

“What, nothing to say to an old friend?” he smiled again and jumped down from the building, somehow landing just in front of them. “Maybe I should get a little closer. . . Tell me, did you bring Henry? I want a friend to play with-”

“That’s enough, _Malcom_ ,” Cora demanded, annoyed with his behavior.

“It’s Pan,” Pan corrected, looking at the lady who had spoken to him, “Peter Pan.”

“Leave us. Now,” Cora ordered, ignoring him. “Go.”

He shook his head, though complied, disappearing with the blink of an eye. “Yes, your majesty,” he mumbled as his figured faded away.

“That’s much better. He’s such a pest,” a grin formed from her lips once more as she looked at them, “Well, where were we, my dears.”

“Mother,” Regina spoke, this time more firmly than before, “What do you want? Why are you. . . here?”

“I already told you: I wanted to see you, my love.”

“I don’t believe that for a second,” Snow said, catching Cora’s attention. A slight shiver went down her spine as the lady’s eyes fell upon her, just like it always had when she was around Cora, even as a little girl. Snow had _always_ been afraid of Cora, and, now, speaking up to her like this, took courage. “There’s always some hidden motive with you.”

“Oh, precious Snow,” Cora said, as motherly as she could, “You’ve always been a bit confused,” she paused for a second and looked again at all three of them. “But, come, we’ll have much more time to talk later. We should go indoors - I overheard you a moment ago saying something about shelter, and I have the perfect place for you to stay. Follow me.”

Regina, Emma and Snow looked at each other. Under any other circumstances, they wouldn’t have dared to take another step closer to the deadly woman, but, things were different. They were in the Underworld, powerless. They really had no choice - Cora would’ve forcibly taken them anyway. They might as well go. . .

* * *

As they walked along the streets, following Cora’s lead, it felt odd to Emma, Snow and Regina. Time here was strange - at one moment, it felt like they were racing through it, and then, the next moment, it dragged on and on, as if they were barely moving or weren’t even at all. It played with their minds, as they struggled to keep up with the slow moving lady. Their walk felt like it took a hundred years and, yet, simultaneously, also felt like a few seconds long.

“Time is different here than in any other realm,” Cora said, noticing their confusion, “Especially for the living - though they’re a rarity down here. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”

The streets they walked were much like ones they’d seen when the had first arrived in the Underworld: just like the ones in Storybrooke, though a destroyed version. And it seemed like everything was there, too. They passed Granny’s - which appeared to be abandoned and run-down, infested with bright, white spirits. They passed the Charmings’ apartment building, which was ruined and in flames, and in the distance, behind them, they could see Gold’s Pawn Shop, too. Interestingly, though, there wasn’t a scratch on the building. In fact, it looked just like it did back in the land of the living.

Suddenly, they came to a stop. They were now in a neighborhood of some sort, standing in front of a large, white, black-shuttered house with large, green, finely-trimmed hedges. Unlike the rest of what they had seen, this building wasn’t in ruins or destroyed. It was in perfect condition. It was Regina’s house.

“This, is my-“ Regina started.

“Your house,” Cora finished, “Yes, it is. It’s an exact replica.”

“Is this where you live?”

“Oh, no, of course not. You’ll be staying here,” Cora shook her head, “I live at the palace. _My_ palace.” She motioned to a large, towering, black fortress that could be seen looming on the horizon off in the distance. Somehow Regina, Snow and Emma hadn’t noticed it before, though now they did. “That is where the queen lives, after all,” Cora continued.

“Queen?” Snow asked, “You’re the queen?”

“Why, yes, dear,” Cora replied, as if it were obvious. That’s when they noticed a shimmering, ebony diamond tiara placed carefully atop Cora’s bun of hair. “The queen of this land, that is. _I’m the Queen of The Underworld_.”  


	3. Devious Demons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People from the past decide to pay Mary Margaret and Emma a visit. Regina looks in a mirror.

Chapter Three 

Devious Demons

After leading them inside, Cora had promptly departed, leaving Mary Margaret, Emma and Regina in a stupefied state, all alone in the large, empty cold house, wondering very much what they were to do. She had disappeared within the blink of an eye, her form collapsing into a cloud of grey smoke before any of them realized.

“Mother?” Regina asked, looking around to find the elder lady absent once they had passed through the door, “Mother?” she repeated.

“She’s gone,” replied Emma, seeing the lady missing and the relief sounding clearly in her voice.

“Where did she go?” Mary Margaret said, joining Regina in looking around.

After a moment, Regina spoke: “Well, we don’t have time to go find out. This is the Underworld, and I have a feeling that there are several people down here that would be _thrilled_ to see me. I suggest we start trying to figure out how we can get out of here.” As her eyes started to scan their surrounding, she felt a chill run down her spin. When her mother had said it was an exact replica, she wasn’t lying. The entrance hall, the dining room, the living room. . . it looked exactly like her’s. Were in not for the darkness of the place and frosty temperature in the air, she could’ve believed it was _her_ house.

Mary Margaret slumped her bow on her shoulder. “Regina, we don’t know anything about this place - ”

“Regina’s right,” Emma said, looking at her mom, “This place is literally hell, and we don’t want to spend a minute here any longer than we have to.”

“Well then where do we start?”

Regina fell silent for a moment, racking her brain of any knowledge she had about the Underworld. She knew very little about the place, and knew very few. . . And then her grew wide, as a thought hit her, and a grin formed across her face. Rumplestiltskin.

“Rumplestiltskin,” she spoke, “Rumplestiltskin is our answer. He’ll know just what to do - he’s been here before. He will know how to get us out of here,” she immediately left them and headed towards the library, but, before the other two had time to protest, she added, “We can communicate with him through a looking mirror. And we need to do it before my mother gets back.”

Emma and Mary Margaret followed after her. “Gold? But, he’s in a comma,” Emma explained.

“What?” Regina asked, “A coma? B-but, how?”

“When the darkness flew out of him,” Mary Margaret added, “It knocked him out and - ”

Suddenly, before she could finish, there was a loud knocking at the door, followed by a series of more banging.

“You two get that - I’ll start looking for the mirror. We may not get Rumple, but maybe Belle will answer. She might be able to help us, and it’s the best thing we’ve got right now. Besides, we need to tell everyone where we’ve ended up. They probably think we’re dead, and, if we don’t do something soon, we might end up that way.”

Regina rushed off to a nearby cabinet and started digging through the contents, mumbling to herself something. Meanwhile, Emma and Mary Margaret raced off to answer the front door, Mary Margaret arming her bow and arrow into a shooting position.

“I doubt this is the pizza delivery guy,” Emma muttered.

“Maybe it’s a friendly face from the past coming to see us?” Mary Margaret spoke, trying to sound hopeful and reassuring, though she couldn’t even convince herself that that was a possibility.

Swinging open the door, their position in the defensive, their eyes set upon the sight of. . .nothing. There was no one there. The yard was empty.

“That’s odd,” Mary Margaret started, suspecting that something very bad was about to happen soon.

Before they realized it, however, a figure had formed out of the corner of the eye. A lanky, boy with messy hair, dressed in tattered clothes and leaning up the side of the house.

“Well, well,” the voice soothed, stepping out in front of them, smoke trailing behind him. Their eyes fell on him as a smile found itself spreading across his long face. _It was Felix_. “Pan told me the two of you were here, but I just couldn’t believe it so I had to see for myself,” he paused, tilting his heading an inch, “Where’s the other one? Regina?”

Mary Margaret and Emma looked at each other, realizing what was going on, but weren’t able to respond due to the emergence of another voice.

“Probably somewhere inside that bloody hideous house, am I right darlings?” _Cruella_. They recognized her instantly merely by her voice. She strutted out from behind a tree in the yard, slinking her fur coat to below her shoulders and crossing her thin arms. “Hello, savior,” she snapped with a bite, her eyes piercing into Emma like a spear.

A shiver ran down Emma’s spine as she looked at the woman who she’d last seen splattered against the bottom of a large cliff. _The woman she’d killed_.

“Cruella- ”

“ _Just look at them_ , Tamara,” spoke yet another voice, this one a little harder to make out though, when he and his companion came into view, Emma and Mary Margaret quickly knew who it was: _Greg and Tamara_. They had looks of disgust spread over their faces as they stepped closer to them, the black robes hanging from their bodies dragging behind them. “Repulsive isn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Tamara said, her voice empty and emotionless.

 _This won’t be good_ , Emma thought to herself, as her eyes scanned over the villains who had now surrounded them. She was sure her mother was thinking the same thing, too.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside, Regina had been searching for the mirror that could help them communicate with the land of the living. Rummaging around the library in an attempt to find it, she knew that, even though there wasn’t magic in this realm, that the mirror would still work. It was one of those things that was beyond magic - like the Dark One’s dagger.

She slid open one of the draws of the desk, hoping that her mother had been precise in her replica of Regina’s house. A grin developed on her face as she noticed a shiny object reflecting back at her from underneath some papers. The mirror.

Regina pulled it out and propped it up against the top of the fireplace. Setting her gaze on it firmly, she closed her eyes and pictured the place where she wanted it to go: Gold’s shop.

“Regina?!” called a voice, prompting Regina to open her eyes. Before her, looking at her with wide eyes on the other side of the mirror, was an apparently shocked and surprised Belle, “Y-you’re alive? But how? Are Emma and Mary Margaret with you? Everyone will be so happy - w-we thought you all were dead- where are you?”

“We’re in the Underworld,” Regina burst out to the lady, before her voice fell short, a noise erupting from outside catching her attention. It was someone’s voice, one that she specifically and particularly despised: Cruella De Vil’s.

“Then you are dead?” Belle replied, her tone turning into one of sadness.

“No, not yet at least - the darkness it trapped us here. We’re stuck down here, Belle, and, as you can imagine we’re trying to get out. We need help.”

“What can I do?”

“I need to speak to Rumplestiltskin - is he awake, yet?”

Belle’s eyes darted to her side, and Regina noticed a body lying passed out atop a small bed somewhere in the back of the room, with one arm slumped onto the floor and another lying over his chest. It was Rumplestiltskin’s body. “No,” Belle said solemnly, “He’s not, he’s still in a coma. But I can - ”

Suddenly the mirror became cloudy, and they were cut off, Belle’s face disappearing in the smoke. “Belle? Belle!” Regina called, walking up to the mirror to see what was wrong, “Belle? Can you hear me?” she called again, but, as soon as her finger touched against the front of the mirror, it shattered instantly.

“Dammit,” Regina growled, taking a step back as the shattered pieces came colliding from the mantle and onto the floor, “What the hell happened?” She bent down, attempting to collect what she could into her hands.

“You won’t be able to fix it, dearie. Foreign magic only lasts so long down here, and I’m afraid you’ve drained everything out of that mirror.” The voice erupted from behind her. Regina stopped immediately what she was doing, her heart beating rapidly, as she turned to see the familiar face she had looked upon many, many times. _Rumplestiltskin_.

* * *

“We don’t want any trouble,” Emma said, looking at the four devious demons who were now moving closer and closer to her and mother, “So all of you can just take a step back.”

Cruella laughed viciously. “Don’t want trouble, huh? Ha! You bloody murdered me, darling - are you expecting warm cookies and a hug? Perhaps maybe a nice bottle of gin, as well?”

“You were threatening my son, Cruella!”

“Yes, I was, wasn't I, darling?” Cruella spoke fondly to herself, as if looking back on a pleasing memory. She could practically feel the cold, iron handle of the gun pressing up against her long fingers, and it sent a pleasurable wave through her stiff bones. “Oh, but, the little brat was never in any real danger, was he now, Savior?”

 _“What do you all want_?” Mary Margaret spoke bluntly, interrupting the exchange going on, “Are you going to try and harm us?”

“Why, whatever do you mean?” said Felix, looking directly at Mary Margaret, “We only wanted to come and welcome our newest guests into the neighborhood!” The mischievous grin that had formed on his face made Emma and Mary Margaret believe otherwise.

“Besides, why would we ever want to _harm_ you?” Greg asked, taking a hostile step closer to the two women, “It’s not like one of you murdered my father. Oh, wait, the other one did: Regina.”

“And it isn’t like you tried to kill me, too,” Tamara added, also taking a step closer.

Just as her words ended, a large, swirling ball of smoke streaked down from the sky and crashed into the grass of the yard. Within seconds, the flames faded away, however, to reveal a zombie-like figure with large, black horns standing tall and erect before all of them.

“Well, let’s not forget what you did to me,” added the fifth person that had just entered the conversation. It was a voice that the two women, just like the others, also recognized, but were quite shocked to hear down here. _Maleficent_. “You stole my child from me and murdered her.”

“Maleficent? How are you here? You were brought back to life - ”

“Save it. I don’t care what you have to say,” Maleficent cut them off.

“Darling,” Cruella said, turning to Felix, “Why don’t you tell them why we’re _really_ here.”

“It would be my pleasure,” the boy replied and, with the blink of an eye, Felix was standing an inch away from Emma and Mary Margaret. He leaned in closely and whispered to them: “As you might not know, we’re already dead, so we can’t exactly kill you at the moment. But, trust me, we’ll get our chance, and, the moment we do, we won’t hesitate to slit all three of your throats.”

And like that, all five of the evil demons vanished, leaving behind nothing but the echo of their threat in Emma and Mary Margaret’s ears.

* * *

“Rumplestiltskin?” Regina asked, “How are you down here? I- I just saw you in a coma. . .”

“And that’s exactly where most of Rumplestiltskin still is. Believe me, dearie, I’m only a very, very small sliver of the man,” he grinned a devious smile, and did his signature hand twirl and cackling laughter, “You see, when a soul dies and goes to the Underworld, a part of them will remain here forever. Even if they are brought back to life, some form of them will always be chained here.”

“And you’re that. . . part of Rumplestiltskin?” Regina asked.

“Exactly!” the man chirped, “And I heard you call my name, dearie, so, thus, here I am, at your service.” He took a small bow and looked back up at her with earnest.

Regina remained silent, unsure of how to respond. She didn’t need to though, since the man’s words flowed out of his mouth once more.

“You’re looking to leave this place, aren’t you? You’re trying to escape this dark cage - I can’t say that I blame you. The lighting down here is _terrible_.”

Regina still didn’t respond. _She figured she’d let him do the talking_.

“Yes, that's just what it is, isn't it. Well, lucky for you, I have a little something that might be able to help you in my shop. Let's go.” Before Regina could protest, he had already snapped his fingers and they were both gone. 


	4. I Miss Them, Too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regina and Emma talk.

Chapter Four

I Miss Them, Too

It had been two days since Regina, Emma and Mary Margaret had been sent to the Underworld by the darkness. Two days since Cora and Pan had found them, and two days since the other villains had confronted them. Regina had been able to tell because of the date changes on her watch - which somehow still worked all the way down there in the pits of hell - or otherwise she or the other two wouldn’t have known a second had passed. There was no such thing as night or day in the Underworld, or even time really; only eternal darkness and cloudiness existed down there, and it seemed as if the dead never needed sleep, so there was no real way to keep track of the days spent.

They’d spent those two days held up at the faux Mills house Cora had put them up in. No other visitors had stopped by since Cruella and the other villains, and Emma and Mary Margaret weren’t eager to go out just yet and test their death threats, or risk running into any others. Not until they had a plan of action which, as of yet, they still didn’t.

Regina was the only one who had left, when Rumplestiltskin had led her to his shop, though the trip had been almost entirely uneventful in her view. They’d gotten there, and Rumplestiltskin had mentioned something about it ‘being in his safe’ before he disappeared with the blink of an eye, much like Cora had earlier, leaving Regina to herself in the shop. With a watchful and alert eye, she’d searched the safe that, just like in the real Storybooke, sat just above the counter, hidden behind a picture. However, the only thing she could find - actually the only thing that was even in the safe - was a glass, purple-colored ball about the size of her palm that was covered in a layer of dust and had clearly been there awhile. As soon as she’d touched it, she’d been teleported back to the house.

But, again, that was two days ago, and nothing new had been determined about the ball. She touched it again and again, though it had done nothing.

Regina fingered with it as it rested in her palms, her dark eyes gazing at it hopefully as she sat on the couch in the living room by herself, in silence. She was desperately trying to get it to do something. . . _hoping_. . . so that way they’d been able to get back to Storybrooke. _Maybe this time_ , she thought to herself again and again, _maybe it will work again. Maybe it will show us how to get back. . ._

Suddenly she looked up as she heard light footsteps enter the room. It was Emma Swan.

Regina shot an eyebrow. “I thought you and Snow were upstairs resting?”

“I can’t sleep, at least not in this place. Every time I close my eyes,” she paused and looked off, “I see terrible, terrible things.” Her eyes looked at Regina, and then down at the glass ball in her hands. “So I figured I'd see how it was coming. Any luck?”

Regina met her gaze and then shook her head. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” She set it down on the coffee table in front of her. “I’m wondering if we’ll ever get back to Storybrooke.”

Emma walked forward and sat down beside Regina on the couch, laying a hand reassuringly on her shoulder. “Regina, if there’s anything I’ve learned in my life after the curse broke and I realized I was the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, it’s to never, ever lose hope. I’ve seen my parents, I’ve seen all of us, go through hell before: Cora, curses, other realms, the Snow Queen, the Queens of Darkness. Every time, we _always_ make it through it.”

The other woman brushed back a dark lock of her hair away from her face and pursed her lips together. “Forgive me, Swan, if I’m not in the mood for another one of the Charming family’s _famed_ hope speeches. I don’t have the energy at this point.”

Emma offered her a smile. “I understand. Believe me, I understand,” her eyes looked up and down the girl, and she could easily tell what this was about. She could see it in her eyes. “I miss them, too,” she added. 

“Robin, Roland - maybe even David and Killian a little bit,” Regina laughed slightly, her words sounding warmer than they had been before, as Emma laughed with her. The other woman knew full well Regina’s rocky history with both men. “But the person I miss the most down here, is _Henry_. I miss our son so, so much, Emma.”

A silence then fell in the room, as Regina lost herself in thought about her son, her gaze pointed at the ground and a pitiful smile drawn from her lips as she recalled the little boy. Emma’s eyes, however, were staring directly at Regina - she felt sorry for the woman. It must’ve been hard for Regina, seeing her mother and all the other people from her past down here, and all the while having to be away from the person she loved most of all. Emma missed Henry too, but, to Regina, he’d always been the long she’d loved most. For a long time he'd been  _all_ she'd had.

And in that moment, Emma felt a tinge at her heart, and a feeling rose up inside her for Regina like one that she’d never had before. She wasn’t quite sure what it was, yet, but it made her want to reach out and take the poor woman into a hug. Of course she wouldn’t do that, but she couldn’t explain this new affection that had settled inside of her for Regina Mills. It was a foreign feeling, though one she wasn't entirely upset to have.

“Do you ever miss Neal - I mean, _Baelfire_?” Regina asked with a yearning in her eyes, breaking the silence. It was an odd question to ask, especially considering their current circumstance.

“Of course,” Emma replied after a second. It wasn’t like Regina to ask personal questions; usually she was distant, and protective of herself with other people, especially Emma. _I guess the Underworld’s causing everyone to change_ , the woman thought to herself, recalling the own, however small, changes she had noticed in herself and Mary Margaret while they’d been down here. Tiny changes in their attitude and their behavior, their thoughts even, though nothing major. “He was the first man I fell in love with, why?”

Regina nodded, though ignored her. “I shouldn’t have asked that,” she said, recognizing exactly what Emma had. “It’s probably personal.”

Emma offered a small giggle. “Regina, we’ve known each other for over two years now - I think you can ask a personal question or two.”

“The first man I ever loved died, too,” Regina went on, taking a turn Emma didn’t expect. The woman had heard stories about the stable boy from her mother, about how Cora had killed him because Snow White had spilt Regina’s secret, and that was the root of where all their problems had started. She was familiar with the man, but never in a million years had Emma expected Regina to talk about that with her, of all people. “His name was _Daniel_.”

Emma listened, silently, waiting to hear where Regina was going with this.

“He’s down here somewhere, I know it.” Her voice broke for a second as the words spilled out of her mouth, and, just almost, Emma thought the other woman was on the verge of tears and about to cry, as if Regina’s previous words weren’t enough of a shock to her. At one point Emma had been convinced that Regina Mills wasn’t even capable of feeling emotions other than hatred and greed, and yet, now, that very same woman was sitting here before her, about to break out into sobs. Clearly, this stable boy - Daniel - held a tremendous sway over Regina.

It made that strange feeling Emma was starting to feel for the woman twist and grow. She continued to remain silent. 

“He’s down here, and I know he’s looking for me,” she continued, “He’s going to try to find me. He has to be after w-w-what happened. But I don’t think I’ll be able to handle that; seeing him again in this place.” Regina let out a deep sigh, before collecting herself. “You’re probably wondering why I’m telling all of you this, aren’t you? Frankly, I don’t know myself,” she laughed, “I guess you’re just a good listener and probably the only person I can really talk to down here. Besides, you’re the closest thing to Henry I have right now. Forgive me if I try to hold onto that.”

Emma was just about to speak, before Mary Margaret strolled into the room from the stairs, interrupting their whole conversation. She met them with a sleepy gaze as she sat down on the couch opposite them. 

The two other women looked up at her. “Can’t sleep, either?”


	5. Things That Need To Be Said

Chapter Five

Things That Need To Be Said

A loud thud rung throughout the air as the front door of the Mills residence swung open with great fervor and crashed into the wall, suddenly alerting everyone inside. Originally in the kitchen, Emma, hearing the noise, dropped what she was doing, grabbed a lamp as a weapon, and rushed into the entry hallway. On her heels and not a second behind her, Mary Margaret, too, ran from her seat in the living room into the entry.

They were both greeted with the frightening sight of Cora Mills standing in the middle of the room, her hands clasped together and her usual, wicked smile spread across her face. The last time they’d seen her was when she’d brought them there, and her appearance didn’t look much different than before; she wore another dreary gown, and a shimmering crown was still nestled in the coiffed bun of her hair.

“Cora. . .” Mary Margaret drifted, her tone sounding more like that of a warning, chills shooting up her spin as she moved closer to her daughter. Even though she was dead, Mary Margaret didn’t trust Cora around her daughter. She’d already tried to kill her multiple times while she was alive, who knows what she could do now that she was dead.

“Wh - ”

“You’re back.” Regina’s voice echoed throughout the room, the words bouncing off the high ceilings, as Emma and Mary Margaret suddenly noticed she had appeared on the balcony of the staircase. She looked down at all of them grimly.

“Indeed I am, my dear,” Cora replied, stepping forward and turning her head so she could see her daughter. “My apologizes for my sudden departure. I had court affairs.”

Regina made her way down the staircase, ending up standing directly in front of her mother. “And why have you come this time?” Her voice was void of life.

Cora took another step closer, her hands remaining together. “I already told you, my love. I want to see you; when you put my heart back into my body, I felt all the emotions I had tried to protect myself from for all those years come crashing back down on me with one immense rush. It was a truly overwhelming experience,” she paused momentarily, and for just one sliver of a second, Regina could swear that she saw a glimmer of warmth and love in her mother’s eyes. “And there's something I have to say. I died before I could get the chance to tell you, but, Regina, my child, _I love you_.”

Regina’d been waiting for years, and years, to hear those words escape from her mother’s lips. Since she’d been a young girl, she’d yearned for even the slightest drop of adoration and affection from the woman. As time had gone on, the possibility of it had faded away to only that of a dream. A dream of hearing "I love you" come from her mother, just once. A dream that she never, ever had ever seen becoming a reality.

And yet here, after all this time, all these years of telling herself again and again that her mother would never, ever love her, Cora was finally saying it to her.

Even the mere words caused emotions to start flowing inside of Regina, emotions that she couldn’t afford to have dragged out right now; not here, and not in this place. “Mother, please - ” Regina shook her head, forcing back tears.

“No, I mean it, my dear,” Cora’s hands reached out and took Regina’s into her own, “I really do. And I want to show you,” her eyes moved towards the door, “follow me.” Without waiting for Regina to reply, the elder woman led her down the steps of the entryway and to the doorway of the house.

As Mary Margaret and Emma started to follow, Cora’s other hand rose up in the air and she spoke, “you two stay here.”

“If you think we’re going to let you take Regina somewhere off in this literal hell-hole without our protection,” Emma replied, running ahead and getting in between the mother and daughter, “then you’re mistaken. Where Regina goes, we go.” She wasn’t about to let Regina go anywhere with this woman with her protection. Not when she knew what Cora was capable of.

“She’s right, Cora,” Mary Margaret said, slinging on her bow and grabbing her arrows, “We’re going with you.”

Cora looked at both her daughter and then back at the other two women. Both Emma and Mary Margaret were sure she’d put up a fight, in fact they expected no less from the Queen of Hearts, and so they were both shocked when she simply nodded her head and consented. “Very well. Follow me.”

* * *

Leaving the faux Mills house wasn't as disorienting as it had been the first time they'd arrived; Emma, Mary Margaret and Regina had been in the Underworld for what amounted to a couple of days, and they'd, somewhat, gotten used to the way time moved around there. The closest thing they could think of to compare it to would be that feeling you get when you're in a timezone that you aren't used to, but on major steroids.

Their first time experiencing it, the three women hadn't been exactly sure of what had been going on, of what they were feeling, but, by this time around, they'd gotten more of a grip on it. They could make out their surroundings more clearly than they had been able to before: they saw more replica buildings and houses like the ones in Storybrooke, only run-down like they'd seen before, and they even noticed the broken clock tower, too, as they passed by it. 

Unlike before, this time they also saw ghosts and spirits, mindlessly strolling about. Almost all of their faces were aimless and blank; empty of expressions and without purpose. 

Thankfully they saw no one they recognized, that is until Cora led them onto one of the side streets and out of the corner of her eye, Emma caught sight of a familiar face, one that she'd known in both her childhood and adulthood. Probably one of the few people in her life that had truly loved her.  _Ingrid._

The woman was standing near the spot where her ice-cream shop had been, looking seemingly lost. She was in all black, and a tired and weary look was painted on her face, one that eerily matched most of the other residents of the Underworld. Her eyes were fixated on something somewhere in the distance, and she didn't seem to notice her. 

Unknowingly, Emma had stopped to look at her, and, by the time she realized it and looked up ahead, Cora, Regina and Mary Margaret were far ahead of her. Though she realized it was probably a terribly bad idea, Emma decided she might as well go speak to Ingrid. She may not get another chance ever again, and she did want to say something to the woman. 

“Ingrid,” she said as she approached her. At first the lady didn’t hear her, but, when she noticed her approaching, she looked up and Emma could’ve sworn her face brightened a little. Not much, but a little. “Ingrid,” she repeated.

“Emma,” Ingrid offered a slight smile for a brief moment, before it quickly faded away, “what are you doing down here? Why are you in the Underworld?” She looked the woman up and down before she resumed, “you’re not dead. I can still see the life still in you; there’s that warm color to your cheeks, and you still have your beautiful eyes.”

“No, I-I’m not dead. Mary Margaret, Regina and I were trapped down here. . . It’s a long story.”

"I'm surprised to see you here," A glimmer appeared in her eyes. “Is Elsa with you?”

“No, no, she’s not. She went back to Arendelle with Anna after the curse broke,” Emma paused for a moment, "Ingrid, there's something I want to- "

“I’m sorry for everything I put you two through, Emma. I really am,” she placed her palm lovingly against the younger woman’s cheek, “I loved you both, so, so much, it’s just. . . I went about the wrong way of showing it. All I wanted was to have were sisters, and instead I just pushed you away. I never should’ve tried to kill your family and friends. I’m so sorry for all of it.”

“I know, and I wanted to tell you that I forgive you, Ingrid. I forgave you the moment you sacrificed yourself to save us.” For awhile in her life, Ingrid had been the closest thing Emma had to a mother and a sister. She’d been in many foster homes, but it wasn’t until she went to Ingrid’s home that she felt she truly belonged. The older woman had always looked out for her, and, even after all that had happened, in the end Ingrid sacrificed her life to save Emma's family.“You'll always mean a lot to me. At least now you're reunited with your sisters.”

"Yes. . ."

"Where are they by the way," Emma said, looking about. Ingrid had been all alone when Emma had seen her, and, except for her, there was still no one else around. "I'd like to meet them."

The woman’s gaze fell to the ground, and her sad expression reappeared. “I. . . don’t know. I couldn’t find them anywhere. . .”

“What? But surely they have to be around here somewhere.”

“Perhaps. But maybe they just don’t want to see me after. . . after what happened.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Emma's eyes darted about, "I can help you find them. I'm the savior, after all. It's my job to help everyone get their happy endings, and that applies to the dead, as well." 

“You always did want to help everyone," Ingrid offered a weak, though loving smile, "But, no, Emma, it’s alright. You need to catch up with Cora and your family, anyways. My sisters will find me when they’re ready.”


	6. Echoes To The Past

Chapter Six

Echoes To The Past

Blood-red, smokey clouds of fog had descended upon the streets Hellbrooke as Cora, Regina and Snow made their way past the broken buildings and houses of the decrepit town, and, though the Queen of the Underworld had been mum about telling them where exactly she was leading them to, it soon became clear to the other two women where she was taking them: _her palace_. The ebony, marble castle rose gracefully into the black, void sky like a shimmeringly-set jewel, rising high about any of the other structures in the Underworld. And, though they’d been able to see it easily from the faux Mills house the past few days they’d been down there, it was only now that they’d gotten the chance to get a closer look.

It looked very much like any of the other castles that could be found back in the Enchanted Forest; however, there was a distinct eeriness about Cora’s palace that sent chills up Snow and Regina’s spine as soon as they entered through the large, wrought-iron gates and into an expansive garden of red roses that laid directly in front of the towering palace. Faceless guards shielded by masks and dressed in black chainmail lined the perimeter, bowing as Cora passed by them.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Mary Margaret whispered to Regina, who walked in front of her.

“No.” Regina turned around to look at her, and it was then that she finally noticed Emma had disappeared from the group. “ _Emma_. . . Emma! She’s gone!”

With a panic flooding upon her, Snow whipped around to discover her daughter nowhere to be found. “ _W-what_? Where is she? We have to find her!” the words could barely stumble out of her mouth in time to be replaced by others. “She cold be in danger! We need to go look for her! She could've be taken-”

Cora merely proceeded onwards ahead and, before they knew it, Snow and Regina were following along in her path - their bodies having been overtaken by some outside force that was now forcing them to follow her. They tried to resist, tired to flee away and go find Emma, but all they could do was merely watch as their feet took step after step in Cora's path, drawing closer and closer to the palace. 

“Don’t worry, my dears, Emma Swan will find her way back to us.” Cora’s voiced sounded cool and calm. Regina and Snow, literally, had no choice but to continue onwards with her inside the palace.

Immediately as the two women passed through the massive entrance doors and into the palace, an uneasy feeling started to creep up inside of them, one that only continued to grow as Cora led them through an endless array of vast hallways and high-ceilinged rooms, until finally they entered into a large, vast room, the ceiling of which was so high it seemed to disappear into the sky. The room was empty of any furniture, save for a massive, gilded throne that sat at the center, atop a raised dais. Surrounding it was more legions of guards.

Regina had been a queen for many, many years, and as such she knew exactly what this room was. She’d even had one herself: _the throne room_.

Suddenly, footsteps pattered behind them, and Snow and Regina spun around to see a very confused Emma standing behind them. She wobbled in her stance as Regina and Mary Margaret rushed up to her. “I have no idea how I just got here.”

“That’s the funny thing about the Underworld, my dear, particularly with mortals. One moment you’re in one place, and the next you’re in another,” Cora explained. She turned to her daughter, and finally revealed the reason why she’d brought them there. “Regina, I told you once, long ago, that I was going to help you find true love again, and that's what I'm going to do now. There’s someone down here who’s been waiting for you for a very long time.”

At that moment, a guard standing not far off walked towards them, removing his helmet as he knelt in front of the two women. Regina nearly fainted as the man took her by the hand. _It was Daniel_.

She’d known he’d find her eventually. It had been bound to happen, but, despite knowing that she’d come across him eventually, she’d also known that there was no way she’d ever be able to prepare herself for it. He’d been her first love, and his death. . . well, it had impacted her life greatly.

“Hello, Regina,” he brushed his thumb gently over the top of her hand.

A silence fell over the room as Regina remained speechless. She’d been thinking about what she’d say to him, when she finally saw him, but she could never decide on quite the right words.

“Daniel?” Mary Margaret finally spoke up, taking a step closer to see his face. She hadn’t seen him since she was a young girl, and then only a few times, but she’d always recognize that face. It was the face that, for years, she been blamed for murdering.

“D-Daniel. . .” Regina could feel tears spurring in her eyes, as she raised a hand to cover her mouth in surprise. Emma laid a hand instinctively on her shoulder, trying to reassure her. For a brief second their eyes met, and Emma could see the droplets of water drizzling from Regina’s eyes.

“I can’t believe you're really here. After all this time,” Daniel said, looking sadly into her eyes. There was an emptiness inside of him.

“We’ll give you two a moment,” Cora said to her daughter, twirling her hand in the air and dismissing all the other guards in the room. They departed the room quickly at their queen's command.

Regina started to shake her head. She couldn’t handle this. Not now. “No. This won’t work. I’m sorry Daniel, but I don’t love you. I did, long ago, but my heart now belongs to someone else now. I. . . I can’t do this.” She turned and suddenly ran out of the room. An instant later, Cora was hot on her heels racing after her daughter.

“Regina!”

Emma turned to follow them, though Mary Margaret stopped her. “No, let them go. They need time alone. Give them time.”

* * *

Down dark hallways and corridors, Regina continued to run, not giving the slightest concern to being lost in the maze of rooms in the palace. She just had to get away. It didn’t matter to her where, just as long it was far away. She barged through a set of double doors and into a vast, high-ceiling room, that appeared to be empty. A fireplace bellowed at one end of the room, the only light inside the dark space. Regina stopped and leaned up against a wall, catching her breath.

Not a second later, Cora was sweeping into the room. “Regina- ”

“No, mother. _Don’t_.”

“What’s wrong? I-I thought you loved him?”

“I did, but that was ages ago, before you killed him. Why would you make me see him again? Make me live through that tragic event again, mother?”

Cora frowned sadly at her daughter. It was a sincere sadness. “I. . . I just wanted to help, my love.”

“It didn’t help. It only caused me more pain, as if there isn't enough of that down here.”

“I’m sorry,” Cora took her daughter’s hands into her own, “As I said before, Regina _I love you_. I always have, since the day you were born, it’s just I didn’t realize it until it was too late. I went about everything all the wrong way. I’m sorry for that, and I’m sorry for everything I’ve put you through. I truly am. I always just wanted what I thought was best for you, and what would make you happy. Reuniting you with Daniel. . . I, I thought it would make you happy. You loved him once, and I thought you would again if you saw him. I didn’t consider. . .”

Regina stared blankly at her mother. She’d heard those words before. Many times before, actually, and each time they’d always been in an attempt to manipulate her again. Her mother may have her heart now, but Regina certainly knew that, even with it inside of her, her mother had been a cruel woman. Just look at what she did to Zelena. . .

Cora paused and looked at her daughter intently. “You don’t believe me?”

Regina was blunt. “No, I don’t, mother. I've heard it all, before, and it's never meant anything from you.”

“It’s different this time. I have my heart.”

“Is it? Even with your heart, you abandoned my sister, who you also never told me about. I only found out because she tried to kill me!”

“I’m not proud of that, but I did what I had to to survive,” suddenly, the flames in the fireplace roared with a ferocious cry, and Cora cringed for a slight second. Regina noticed it, but didn't think much of it. Cora continued. “I’ll show, my dear. I’ll prove to you that I’ve changed. That _I love you_.”


	7. The Warning

Chapter Seven

The Warning

A heavy sigh escaped Regina’s lips as she leaned back and closed the front door to "her house" behind her, the rectangular piece of wood serving as the only thing to effectively separate her, Emma and Snow from the rest of the intolerable hell that was Underbrooke. She took a shaky breath and closed her eyes, needing a moment to recover from the encounter she had had earlier at Cora’s palace: seeing Daniel, the once true love that was once suddenly ripped away from her, again. . .

and of course her mother’s words. She still didn’t know what to make of that.

Sensing a presence nearby, Regina opened her eyes to see Snow White staring at her from a few feet away. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, “I can’t imagine that was easy for you to see him again.”

“It wasn’t,” Regina replied softly.

“And your mother. . . judging by the way you stormed out of that castle and back here. . .” Snow’s voice drifted off quietly, as she noticed Regina’s expression change with the mention of her mother.

Regina shook her head. “I don’t know what to think of my mother right now.” She stepped forward and, joining Snow, they both walked into the living room, where they found Emma passed out on the couch, sound asleep. Emma, in particular, had had trouble sleeping down there. For many nights in a row, she had gone with nothing more than an hour or two of sleep. Neither Regina or Snow were surprised at her current state.

However, it was not a moment later that there were a series of gentle knocks at the door. “Now what?” Regina exclaimed, taking a seat on the armrest of the couch, beside a scrunched-up Emma.

“I’ll get it.” Snow braced herself to be ready for any devious demon or face from their past who could be gracing the doorstep of the house that time. However, she found herself completely caught off guard when she turned the knob and opened the door to find both her parents standing there, looking right back at her.

“M-mommy? Daddy?” Snow muttered with wide-eyes and a dropped jaw. Eva and Leopold blinked back at their daughter in the doorway, expressions of somber and sadness painting their pale faces.

“ _Snow_ ,” Eva whispered affectionately, an echo of joy in her voice that contrasted with the depression of her face. “What a beautiful young woman you’ve turned into.”

“Indeed she has,” Leopold added, staring at his daughter with loving eyes.

Snow cupped her hand over her mouth in disbelief. “What are you two doing here? How did you find us?”

“We saw you at her palace and followed you here,” Eva answered.

“There's not much time to explain, I'm afraid. Snow, my beloved, we have to warn you of something,” Leopold looked around, as if to make sure someone wasn't observing them from nearby. Snow could see terror in his eyes as he turned back to her. “May we come inside. It’s urgent. We need to speak somewhere private.”

“Of course,” Snow parted and allowed them entry, leading them into the library that was off the entrance hall. As he passed by, Leopold’s eye caught Regina's for a brief second, and before he disappeared into the room. Regina shivered in her seat as the man walked by.

“What is it you have to tell me?” Snow asked her parents once she had closed the door to the room behind her.

“We have to tell you to leave this place as quickly as you can. No matter what it takes. Hades, the ruler of this domain, has terrible, terrible plans for you and your family. He wants to trap all of you here, forever. You have to get out before that happens,” Leopold spoke as he gripped his daughter by the arms, “I don’t want to watch you suffer the same miserable fate as the both of us have. You  _must_ escape.”

“There’s something about this world that you don’t know. This isn’t just a hell, it’s a place for _unfinished business_. When a soul dies with unresolved issues that prevent them from continuing on, they are sent down here. However; once that business is finished, they move on to a better or worse place, unless their soul is _tethered_ here,” Eva explained.  

Leopold looked at his daughter gravely. “A soul can be tethered to the Underworld in many ways, but once it happens, they can never move on. They are trapped here for eternity. Hades is planning to tether you and your family to this place. . . you’ll never be able to escape or go back home.”

"And a pure soul such as your's, Snow, doesn't belong here. It'll corrupt you and your family." Eva brushed a finger lovingly over Snow's cheek. 

"We had to come and warn you."

* * *

 Emma’s eye softly fluttered open to find a bare, white ceiling staring down at her. She blinked and sat up on the sofa.

“Good morning,” Regina teased playfully, seated across from the blonde on the opposite sofa in the living room. “Have a nice nap, sleeping beauty?”

Emma scratched her head and leaned back against the cushion. “I dreamed about fire. I wasn’t burning or anything, but I was looking down at a giant pit of fire,” Emma sighed heavily, convinced that she could still feel the heat of her dream against her skin. She looked over at Regina. “You okay?”

“Am I okay? It sounds like _you’re_ the one who had the nightmare.”

“Back there, at Cora’s palace. . . that couldn’t have been easy.”

“It wasn’t,” Regina admitted simply, much like she did when Snow had asked her the same thing.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s understandable. If anything, don’t want to talk about it _to me_.”

“I don’t mind. I know our relationship has been strained in the past, but after all these years, Emma, I really do care about you. Truly, I mean it,” she flashed Emma a smile, “and I know I don’t always show it, but you’ve really become apart of my family. So no, I don’t mind talking to you about it.” With Regina’s words, Emma’s heart practically melted into a pool of nothing inside of her. “Besides, if I’ve learned anything over the years, Emma, it’s that you and I are more alike than I thought we were.”

A silence fell over the room, as Emma took in Regina’s words. Finally she spoke up. “What was it like. . . seeing your true love again after all this time?”

“Well, I realized that he wasn’t, truly, my true love. Not anymore, at least. I love him once upon a time, and, while he’ll always have a special place inside of my heart, I don’t love him anymore. I loved him then, and I love the memories I have of us, but I don't love _him._ I suppose it’s just fluent like that - love, that is. Love for someone comes and goes, I suppose. It's strange, really, what you can start to feel for someone."

“What about Robin?”

“Of course I love Robin, but that's another thing: who would’ve guessed that the Evil Queen would fall for a thief? And you and Hook, too. The daughter of Snow White ending up with a pirate. . . I've come to realize that you can find love in places that you least expect.”

Emma was about to speak, before, at that exact moment, the library door swung open and out stepped Snow and her parents into the entrance hall.

“Before you go, I want you to meet your granddaughter,” she waved over Emma to join them and introduced the blonde to her two evidently-proud parents. “Emma, these are your grandparents, my mother and father, Eva and Leopold.” Joy radiated from both of their faces as Emma outstretched her hands towards them.

“A pleasure to meet you.” They timidly shook hands as the two older people stared at the mother in daughter in silence, smiles upon their faces. Regina still in the living room, avoided eye contact with both of Snow’s parents and escaped through a back door into the kitchen. _Her history with Snow's family was frosty to say the least._  

Finally, after a few moments of small chatter, as Snow and Emma told Leopold and Eva about Henry, Charming and Baby Neal, and their life back home, the elder man excused himself and his wife. “My heart warms at the wonderful life you've built for your family, my precious child, and, while this isn't truly goodbye forever, we must be going. _She_ ’ll notice our absence.” Kissing both women on the cheek, Leopold led his wife to the front door where they hurriedly departed onto the street.

Snow watched as her parents left and, as soon as the front door closed, she turned to Emma and, with a frightened expression, blurted out. “I have to tell you something - _Regina_!”

* * *

Leopold and Eva quickly hobbled along the cracked sidewalks of Underbrooke, in a hurried attempt to return to Cora’s palace before she noticed that her two, tortured slaves were missing. However, their paths were interrupted when a giant blue flame arose from the ground violently in front of them.

“Well if it isn’t the two birds that escaped from their cages,” Hades snarled at them as the flame around him dissolved into the air, an expression of displeasure painted across his stern face. "Do you think neither myself nor Cora would notice you're absence?"

“H-Hades, we can explain!” Leopold started, but Hades silenced him.

“Oh but there’s no need to do any such thing. You see, I already know about the little chat you had with your daughter about my plans. This is _my_ realm after all. I can see and hear everything.” Hades let out a terrific laugh at their stupidity before continuing, “so no, there’s no need for any more words. It'd be a waste of time for, you see, I’ve already decided upon a punishment for you two. I think spending eternity drowning in the River of Lost Souls will do just _perfectly_.”

And with the wave of his hand, both of Snow’s parents vanished into thin air, now forever trapped in a watery prison of hopelessness, decay and misery.

Hades's gaze next found itself aimed at the Mills house, as he continued to speak to himself. “And you know, I’m tired of seeing those three cooped up in that big house. It's no fun, really, so I think It’s time to shake things up.” With another twirl of his hands, the great white house was suddenly engulfed in bright red flames that, within seconds, had already turned the building in burnt ashes.

Hades let out another laugh as he watched the spectacle, before evaporating into a fire of his own and disappearing.


End file.
